irffifu'Xm 


THE  HORMAL 
School  Quarterly 


Number  31 


SUPPLEMENT 


Quarter  Century 


A paper  red  before  the  Central  Illinois 
Teachers  Association, 
Decatur,  111.,  March  19,  1909 


Enterd  August  18.  1902,  at  Normal,  Illinois,  as  second  class  matter, 
under  Act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894. 


PUBLISHT  BY  THE  ILLINOIS  STATE 
NORMAL  UNIVERSITY,  NORMAL,  ILLINOIS 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  QUARTERLY 


Publisht 

by  the  Illinois  State  formal  University , 

formal,  Illinois 

Series  7 

Jipril,  1909 

Number  3/ 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROGRESS  OF  A QUARTER 
CENTURY. 

Progress  means  something  more  than  growth.  It  is 
easy  to  marshal  statistics  showing  increase  in  school  attend- 
ance, in  school  expenditures,  in  the  number  of  teachers,  in 
the  number  of  meetings  they  have  attended,  in  the  number 
of  volumes  in  the  school  libraries,  and  in  all  other  things 
that  can  be  counted  and  mesured.  But  these  may  be  only 
incidental  to  the  growth  of  our  state  in  population  and  welth, 
and  means  of  transportation.  All  this  increase  in  mere  bulk 
may  be  along  with  the  absence  of  improvement,  or  even  at- 
tended by  internal  decay.  Institutions  like  men  grow  old. 
Our  free  school  system  is  fifty- four  years  old.  The  man  of 
fifty- four  is  usually  a good  deal  hevier  than  the  man  of 
twenty-nine,  but  he  has  often  lost  his  ambitions  and  sur- 
renderd  his  ideals.  His  limbs  are  stiffend,  his  arteries  ossi- 
fied, his  vision  impaird;  his  tastes  may  be  more  sensual,  the 
whole  man  sunk  into  easy-going  indifference  towards  the  as- 
pirations and  struggles  of  mankind. 

Nor  does  progress  mean,  in  this  case,  a mere  going  for- 
ward and  its  consequent  change  in  environment,  point  of 
view,  and  momentum.  Whether  we  are  on  the  road  to  per- 
dition or  bound  for  the  New  Jerusalem  we  move  forward 
along  our  respectiv  routes.  Progress  in  education  must 
mean  not  only  growth  but  also  development,  added  com- 
plexity of  function,  perfection  of  structure,  and  efficiency  in 
operation.  It  must  include  forward  movement,  but  as  the 
school  becomes  increasingly  conscious  of  its  purpose  that 
movement  must  be  towards  an  ideal,  towards  the  goal  of  our 
civilization.  We  still  believe  that  the  golden  age  is  before  us. 

In  twenty-five  years  the  expenditures  for  public  schools 
in  Illinois  have  grown  from  $8,891,984.45  to  $32,227,605.06, 


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The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


an  increase  of  262  per  cent.  In  the  same  period  our  popula- 
tion has  increast  probably  eighty- five  per  cent.  School  at- 
tendance in  public  schools  has  increast  eighty-nine  per  cent. 
In  public  and  private  schools  combined  the  increase  in  enrol- 
ment has  been  only  forty- seven  per  cent. 

This  relativly  small  increase  in  enrolment  may  be  ac- 
counted for  in  four  ways.  The  statistics  in  the  state  reports 
may  be  erroneous.  The  fashion  of  small  families  has  reduced 
the  percentage  of  children  in  the  total  population.  The 
newer  immigration  contains  fewer  children.  Pupils,  espe- 
cially in  the  country,  leave  school  at  an  earlier  age. 

BILDINGS. 

The  increase  of  expenditure  has  been  disproportionately 
large  in  the  provision  for  better  bildings  and  school  equip- 
ment. Teachers’  wages  absorbd  58  per  cent  of  the  total  out- 
lay twenty-five  years  ago,  last  year  only  47  per  cent.  The 
modern  house  with  its  electric  lights,  plumbing,  heating, 
its  convenience  and  beauty,  is  a very  different  structure  from 
the  dwelling  of  twenty-five  years  ago.  After  bilding  better 
houses  for  themselves  people  are  considering  better  houses 
for  their  children.  School  bildings  that  were  the  pride  of 
their  town  when  erected  thirty  or  forty  years  ago  are  now 
being  torn  down,  altho  their  walls  are  as  solid  as  on  the  day 
of  their  dedication . The  towers  and  mansard  roofs  and  dor- 
mers have  gone  with  the  outside  stone  steps  of  a former  gen- 
eration. The  simple  lines  and  ample  entrance  of  the  mod- 
ern school  house  suggests  the  sincerity,  dignity,  and  bredth 
of  its  purpose.  In  its  interior  we  find  every  contrivance  to 
diminish  the  hygienic  evils  inseparable  from  indoor  life  and 
to  equip  the  pupil  with  necessary  working  tools.  The  stove 
in  the  corner  of  every  school  room  was  still  in  evidence  in 
a majority  of  our  town  and  city  schools  a generation  ago. 
The  Smead  system  of  furnace  heating  with  gravity  ventila- 
tion, and  direct  steam  radiation  with  no  ventilation  at  all  ex- 
cept as  Providence  or  the  open  window  afforded  it  were  com- 
peting for  recognition  in  the  newer  bildings.  Windows  were 
placed  with  regard  to  external  appearance  or  architectural 
convenience  rather  than  with  consideration  for  the  eyes  of 
pupils  or  teachers.  Double  desks  were  general.  Stairs 
were  usually  narrow  and  steep.  Little  space  was  wasted  in 
wardrobes  or  corridors.  Teachers’  rooms  were  unknown. 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


3 


The  sanitary  conveniences  usually  out  of  doors,  cold,  uncom- 
fortable, unclean  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

In  the  modern  bilding  we  find  an  abundant  supply  of 
fresh  warmd  air  secured  by  a blower,  electrically  driven, 
with  temperature  regulated  by  pneumatic  thermostat;  win- 
dows groupt  at  pupils’  left,  bilt  high  both  at  top  and  bottom; 
wide  corridors,  broad  and  easy  stairs,  fire-proof  in  construc- 
tion; the  interior  finisht  in  agreeable  and  harmonious  tones 
with  walls  adornd  by  well-selected  vases,  pictures,  and  stat- 
uary; program  clock,  electric  bells,  and  inter-classroom  tel  - 
efones;  closets  for  supplies,  apparatus,  and  books;  sus- 
pended globes  and  map-cases;  a well-stockt  library;  labora- 
tories for  science,  physical,  biological  and  domestic;  studios 
for  art  instruction;  shops  for  manual  training;  playrooms  and 
gymnasium;  an  assembly  room  for  extra  occasions  and  public 
meetings,  for  the  school  is  again  to  become  a social  center; 
teachers’  rooms,  rest  rooms,  bath  rooms,  offices,  and  a hos- 
pital. While  not  all  new  school  bildings  mesure  up  to  this 
standard,  it  is  undoutedly  true  that  nearly  all  communities 
according  to  their  means  are  endevoring  to  realize  these  con- 
veniences in  school  house  construction. 

The  grounds  too  are  put  to  better  uses.  The  old  play- 
ground devoted  to  tops,  marbles,  and  two- old- cat  in  the 
winter  months,  and  to  weedy  growths  in  the  long  vacation, 
has  given  place  in  part  to  a well-kept  lawn  with  flowers  and 
ornamental  shrubbery  in  front,  a school  garden  in  the  rear; 
the  playground  itself  enricht  with  swings, teeter-boards,  turn- 
ing poles,  and  other  gymnastic  apparatus.  An  athletic  field  is 
now  regarded  as  a necessity  in  all  our  higher  institutions,  and 
even  in  high  schools  that  have  no  special  need  of  an  adver- 
tizing department. 

METHODS  OF  INSTRUCTION. 

The  most  vital  changes  in  our  schools  are  those  affecting 
the  course  of  study  and  the  method  of  instruction.  The 
whole  tendency  is  away  from  the  memoriter  method  of  a 
generation  ago.  At  that  time  we  had  escaped  from  the  old 
text-book  printed  in  catechism  style  with  questions  and  an- 
swers in  type  of  different  sizes.  The  topical  method  was  in 
vogue.  Pupils  recited  whole  paragrafs  with  complete  ver- 
bal fidelity.  There  was  some  questioning  on  the  meaning; 
frequent  written  examinations  tested  the  acquisitions  of  the 
students. 


4 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


We  have  improvd  somewhat  on  this  bookish  pedagogy. 
We  teach  geography  thru  excursions,  stereographs,  ste- 
reopticons,  maps,  charts,  museum  materials,  and  a welth  of 
geographical  readers  and  books  of  travel. 

In  arithmetic  the  drill  exercises  are  largely  replaced  by 
problems  filld  with  statistical  material  of  some  present-day  in- 
terest and  value.  The  five  readers  of  the  old  series,  are  sup- 
plemented by  a large  stock  of  juvenil  classics.  Oral  reading  is 
better  in  the  lower  grades,  for  the  material  is  better.  Our  up- 
per class  students  do  not  read  so  well.  There  is  too  little 
oral  reading. 

In  U.  S.  History  twenty  five  years  ago  Barnes  was  the 
book.  Its  pleasing  style  won  deservd  success.  But  fifty- seven 
per  cent  of  its  pages  were  devoted  to  war  and  battle.  The  gen- 
eration reard  upon  that  book  is  now  in  Congress  spending 
seventy  per  cent  of  all  our  federal  revenues  in  pensions  for 
past  wars  or  preparation  for  wars  to  come.  It  is  now  real- 
ized that  history  deals  with  all  the  institutions  of  society, 
and  that  children  may  be  interested  in  how  people  lived  as 
well  as  in  how  they  killd  each  other.  Accordingly  our  ele- 
mentary histories  deal  largely  with  primitiv  life;  our  advanced 
classes  are  turning  to  the  story  of  industrial  development 
and  the  economic  problems  that  mankind  has  faced  at  va- 
rious times. 

Grammar  is  studied  still;  in  our  graded  schools  it  is  be- 
gun later.  There  is  less  formal  parsing,  more  attention  to 
definitions  and  to  sentence  structure  as  related  to  literary 
appreciation.  In  1883  the  sausage-link  diagramming  had 
given  place  to  the  straight-line  system  of  Reed  and  Kellogg. 
It,  too,  is  passing.  Those  who  claim  they  teach  geometry 
and  grammar  as  separate  sciences  are  now  clearly  in  the 
ascendency.  Yet  we  occasionally  meet  an  old  fogy  who  sees 
in  diagramming  a mode  of  expression  that  really  stimulated 
the  thinking  of  the  pupils. 

Thanks  to  the  diligence  of  our  book  publishers  spellers 
are  still  on  the  market;  but  they  are  less  used  than  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  Teachers  are  generally  agreed  that  the  time 
to  lern  the  spelling  of  a word  is  when  its  meaning  and  use 
are  lernd.  Hence  the  spelling  list  is  made  up  from  the  daily 
work. 

In  writing,  twenty-five  years  ago  the  Spencerian  slant 
of  fifty- two  degrees  alone  could  claim  orthodoxy.  Copy-books 
everywhere.  Flexible,  fine-pointed  pens  adapted  to  hair  lines 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


5 


with  proper  shadings  upon  certain  approved  downward 
strokes  were  the  only  sort  to  sell.  It  was  a mighty  step  in 
advance  when  a simple  hygienic  vertical  style  came  in.  It 
was  easy  to  read  and  easy  to  write.  Copy:books  were  scarcely 
needed.  But  it  has  not  suited  either  the  professors  or 
the  book  men,  and  we  now  seem  doomd  to  another  era  of 
slant. 

Sixty  years  ago,  Rosenkranz  wrote  that  next  to  medicin, 
education  is  the  most  fruitful  field  for  quackery  and  humbug. 
Teachers  are  not  well-grounded  in  the  principles  of  their  art. 
We  flock  to  the  latest  prophet  who  cries  Lo  here!  in  the  ed- 
ucational wilderness.  We  swallow  the  latest  nostrum.  We 
are  the  constant  devotees  of  fads  and  fancies.  The  Speer 
method,  the  Pollard  method,  the  no-recess  craze,  the  Pueblo 
plan,  the  Batavia  system,  and  dozens  of  other  much  touted 
cure-alls  have  come  and  gone  with  Beecham’s  pills  and  Rad- 
way’s  Ready  Relief. 

In  all  progress  we  seem  to  move  not  steadily  forward, 
but  by  alternate  advance  and  retreat  like  the  frog  in  the 
problem  getting  out  of  the  well,  two  feet  up  each  day  and 
one  foot  back  at  night.  This  rhythmic  action  sends  sleeves 
to  the  shoulders  and  draws  them  over  the  hand,  gives  us 
French  heels  and  low  heels,  jaunty  caps  and  merry-widows, 
crinolin  and  sheath- gowns,  at  the  caprice  or  dictation  of 
certain  commercial  gentlemen  who  create  fashions  in  order 
to  cater  to  them.  Education  is  not  wholly  free  from  these 
influences. 

It  must  not  inferd  that  nothing  has  been  gained  in  edu- 
cation. In  no  other  quarter- century  have  so  many  able 
students  devoted  their  energies  to  perfecting  the  theory  of 
education.  In  no  other  has  the  press  been  so  prolific  in  edu- 
cational books.  In  no  other  have  so  many  substantial  con- 
tributions been  made  to  educational  doctrin.  The  child-  study 
movement  has  pointed  out  the  successiv  stages  of  child  devel- 
opment, and  the  evils  physical,  mental,  and  moral  that  result 
from  ill- adapted  school  work.  The  culture- epoch  theory  has 
taught  us  the  varying  value  of  educational  material  at  different 
ages.  William  James  and  others  have  taught  the  enormous 
significance  of  habit,  and  the  way  in  which  habits  are  formd 
and  reformd.  Gabriel  Tarde  and  Baldwin  have  formulated  the 
laws  of  imitation,  so  vital  a factor  in  the  transmission  of  arts 
and  knowledge.  The  Herbartians  have  revealed  to  us  that 
Interest  is  the  greatest  word  in  education,  and  have  helpt 


6 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


us  distinguish  between  the  spontaneous,  original,  well-direc- 
ted, and  presi stent  effort  that  springs  from  interest,  and  the 
sickly,  aimless,  halting  effort  produced  by  coercion.  Hins- 
dale and  Thorndike  have  successfully  assaild  the  dogma  of 
formal  disciplin.  The  procedure  of  the  recitation  has  been 
workt  out  in  great  detail;  the  technique  of  the  various  sorts 
of  lessons  stated;  the  inductiv  development  lesson,  for  arriv- 
ing at  general  truths  thru  the  analysis  and  comparison  of 
particulars,  the  deductiv  development  lesson  leading  to  valid 
inference  where  an  instance  is  toucht  by  a general  law,  the 
study  lesson,  the  drill  lesson,  reviews,  and  examinations. 
Laboratory  methods  are  thoroly  establisht  in  the  teaching  of 
the  inductiv  sciences.  Handwork  ministers  to  the  construc- 
ts instincts  of  childhood.  The  curriculum  has  been  broad- 
end  to  include  the  whole  child.  To  sum  up  in  a broader 
generalization,  I think  it  is  safe  to  say  that  our  education 
doctrin  today  is  squarely  based  on  the  evolutionary  philoso- 
phy, and  the  aim  of  the  school  is  social  efficiency  rather  than 
the  harmonious  development  of  individual  capacities. 

THE  PRIMARY  SCHOOL. 

Twenty- five  years  ago  the  majority  of  American  children 
still  found  the  alfabet  at  the  threshold  of  school  life.  Better 
methods  in  the  primary  school  were  known  and  widely  used 
in  our  more  intelligent  communities.  The  better  schools 
generally  taught  the  word- method.  Writing  was  taught  from 
the  start.  Slates  were  still  in  universal  use.  Much  copying 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  six-year- old.  Some  busy  work  was  bor- 
rowd  from  the  Kindergarten  but  it  usually  had  little  educa- 
tional value  apart  from  cultivating  the  virtues  of  patience 
and  silence.  The  Grube  method  in  number  had  spred  from 
the  St.  Louis  schools,  but  it  was  usually  taught  in  formal 
fashion,  with  little  relation  to  the  child’s  interests  and  activ- 
ities. 

Colonel  Parker  at  this  time  was  the  new  prophet  whose 
star  had  arisen  in  the  East.  In  January,  1881,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Jr.  had  given  him  a great  write-up  in  the  North 
American  Review,  then  the  most  influential  magazine  in  the 
land.  Quincy  had  become  a Mecca  for  all  the  devout.  The 
Colonel’s  summer  school  on  Martha’s  Vineyard  was  attended 
by  hundreds  of  teachers.  It  is  now  just  twenty-five  years 
since  he  came  to  the  Cook  County  Normal  School.  He  did  a 
great  work.  As  a disciple  of  Rousseau,  Pestalozzi,  and 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


7 


Froebel  he  insisted  that  education  must  be  a natural  process, 
that  it  must  be  the  harmonious  development  of  the  powers 
innate  in  the  child.  He  proclaimd  on  every  platform  the 
doctrin  long  ago  enunciated  by  Pestalozzi  that  alike  in  its 
order  and  its  methods  education  must  conform  to  the  natural 
process  of  mental  evolution — that  there  is  a certain  sequence 
in  which  the  faculties  develop,  and  a certain  kind  of  knowl- 
edge which  each  requires  during  its  development,  and  that 
it  is  for  us  to  ascertain  this  sequence  and  supply  this  knowl- 
edge. Largely  because  of  the  Colonel’s  urgency  arose  the 
cult  of  Child- Study  which  had  so  great  a vogue  fifteen  years 
ago,  now  so  much  neglected.  Yet  from  it  largely  has  come 
the  greater  freedom  of  the  school  life,  the  games,  the  excur- 
sions, nature-study  and  garden  work,  the  increast  use  of 
fairy  tales,  folk  lore,  and  the  ideas  of  primitiv  life,  the  ex- 
pression in  construction,  in  clay,  color,  and  pencil,  and  above 
all  the  correlation  of  all  these  activities  in  the  life  of  the  pri- 
mary school. 

The  Kindergarten  has  not  shown  material  advance  if 
mesured  by  the  number  maintaind.  Much  of  its  spirit  has 
past  into  the  primary  school;  but  all  forms  of  school  life  are 
seen  to  be  more  or  less  at  war  with  the  physical  needs  of  the 
child.  Nature  says  to  the  child,  “Run  about.”  The  school 
mistress  says,  “Sit  still!”  Nature  says  “Seek  the  open  air 
and  sunshine.”  The  teacher  says,  “Come  indoors,  while  I 
pull  down  the  shades;  so  much  sunlight  makes  me  nervous.” 
Nature  says,  “Use  the  large  muscles  of  your  body  in  running, 
jumping,  climbing,  and  throwing.”  The  school  says,  “Use 
your  fingers  in  the  accurate  adjustments  needed  in  writing, 
drawing,  and  sewing.”  Nature  says,  “Use  your  eyes  on  dis- 
tant objects.”  The  school  says,  “Focus  them  on  this  page 
ten  inches  away.”  We  are  all  making  business  for  the  in- 
creasing army  of  eye-specialists  and  nervous- disease  specia- 
lists. Parents  realize  the  truth  of  Spencer’s  saying  that  the 
first  requisit  to  success  in  life  is  to  be  a good  animal.  The 
school  rightly  declares,  If  we  are  to  become  human  and 
civilized,  we  must  begin  formal  education  while  body  and 
mind  are  still  plastic.  We  are  compromizing  on  a shorter 
school  day,  and  more  physical  exercise.  The  Kindergarten 
will  live  and  grow  in  usefulness  especially  in  our  great 
cities,  largely  because  it  has  reformd  its  program  in  the  in- 
terests of  hygiene. 

The  late  comers  into  the  curriculum  have  seen  most 


8 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


change  in  spirit  and  method,  possibly  because  in  these  no 
practis  had  received  the  sanction  of  long  use.  Twenty- five 
years  ago  the  Prang  drawing  books  were  of  the  abstract 
straight-line  sort  introduced  into  the  Boston  schools  by 
Walter  Smith  in  the  early  sixties.  Drawing  as  a means  of 
free  expression  in  the  lower  grades,  the  early  use  of  color, 
the  study  of  light  and  shade,  color  harmony,  the  principles 
of  design,  and  picture  composition  are,  in  our  school  cur- 
ricula, all  developments  of  the  quarter-century.  It  is  recog- 
nized that  to  multiply  means  of  rational  and  refined  enjoy- 
ment is  part  of  the  mission  of  the  public  school.  Art  and 
music  stand  foremost  among  such  means.  Hence  no  con- 
siderable town  is  now  without  its  special  instructors  in  these 
branches,  and  grade  teachers  find  it  worth  while  to  attain 
some  skill  and  insight  in  singing  and  drawing.  In  many 
schools  the  pianola  has  found  recognition  as  an  efiectiv  ally 
in  developing  musical  appreciation. 

Manual  training  first  appeared  in  the  United  States  in 
1877.  At  first  it  was  a mere  copy  of  the  Russian  system 
training  the  student  in  making  difficult  joints  in  wood  work- 
ing; the  joint  after  serving  its  day  in  the  exhibit  went  to  the 
furnace.  Next  came  the  Swedish  Sloyd,  setting  American 
boys  to  work  whittling  out  the  domestic  utensils  of  the 
Swedish  pesantry.  But  these  were  exotic  growths.  In  1889 
the  Nashville  meeting  of  the  N.  E.  A.  was  largely  given  over 
to  an  exposition  of  the  need,  the  purpose,  and  the  philosophy 
of  manual  training.  Since  that  time  its  progress  has  been 
comparativly  rapid.  A technique  has  been  worked  out,  that 
appeals  alike  to  boys,  psychologists,  and  parents.  Manual 
training  is  not  to  make  carpenters.  In  the  history  of  the 
race  the  use  of  the  tool  has  been  a large  factor  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  brain.  It  must  have  its  place  in  the  growth 
of  the  individual.  Boys  like  it,  because  it  answers  to  an  in- 
stinctiv  need.  When  they  are  led  to  make  things  of  real  use, 
the  liking  grows  into  a veritable  passion.  I know  of  one  boy 
not  yet  fourteen  who  turns  nearly  all  his  pocket  money  into 
new  tools,  and  leaves  the  football  field  to  work  at  his  bench. 
In  spite  of  the  expense  involvd  in  its  installation  it  is  des- 
tind  to  a larger  place  in  our  schools. 

Domestic  science  and  domestic  art  have  been  welcomd 
into  the  curriculum  with  even  greater  enthusiasm  and  seem 
destind  to  spred  into  all  our  city  and  village  communities. 
In  all  of  these  newer  studies  the  problem  is  to  make  them 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


9 


practical,  that  is  to  give  instruction  under  school  conditions 
that  will  vitally  affect  the  practis  of  the  pupils.  There  is 
much  yet  to  be  done  before  teachers  can  consider  this  prob- 
lem solvd. 

THE  NATURAL  SCIENCES. 

In  1872  the  General  Assembly  past  a law  requiring  all 
teachers  to  be  examind  in  the  elements  of  the  natural 
sciences.  This  gave  these  studies  an  immediate  place  in  the 
program  of  every  village  and  city  school.  With  teachers 
untraind  in  science  there  could  be  but  one  outcome;  the 
instruction  everywhere  was  bookish. 

In  zoology  we  taught  classification  and  distinguishing 
characters,  as  that  birds  and  reptiles  have  one  occiptial 
condyle  while  animals  have  two.  Pupils  recited  this  with- 
out the  slightest  idea  of  what  the  words  ment.  In  botany 
we  studied  morphology,  analyzed  flowers,  writing  out  the 
proper  adjectiv  to  describe  each  detail  of  structure,  and  made 
herbariums.  So  diligent  were  we  in  this  later  pursuit  that  in 
some  localities  some  rare  spring-blooming  species  became 
entirely  extinct.  Physics  was  better  taught.  Nearly  every 
high  school  possest  some  apparatus.  The  popular  books 
were  Steele  and  Avery,  both  written  by  great  teachers  with 
fine  literary  sense.  The  teacher  performd  the  experiments, 
which  were  usually  illustrativ  and  not  quantitativ.  There 
was  little  of  the  inductiv  method.  We  have  now  introduced 
the  laboratory  method  with  much  quantitativ  work.  Physics 
is  more  scientific  but  less  interesting.  This  fault  comes 
from  two  misconceptions:  (1)  The  belief  that  the  pupil  must 
by  quantitativ  experiment  rediscover  many  of  the  physical 
constants.  (2)  The  belief  handed  down  from  the  colleges, 
that  the  training  in  the  method  is  of  higher  value  than  the 
knowledge  obtaind.  In  our  high  school  biology  we  spend 
too  much  time  with  the  microscope,  too  little  in  opening  the 
eyes  of  the  pupils  to  every  day  phenomena.  College-bred 
teachers  have  brought  the  methods  of  the  University  into 
the  high  school;  the  recent  movement  towards  nature-study, 
presents  a much  needed  correctiv.  The  practical  trend  of 
present  day  educational  thought  will  soon  modify  our  science 
courses.  High  school  Physics  and  Chemistry  will  deal  more 
with  the  explanation  of  natural  Phenomena  and  industrial  pro- 
cesses. Biology  will  become  more  dynamic  in  its  character, 
pointing  the  way  to  the  protection  of  our  friends  and  the 


10 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


destruction  of  our  enemies.  Physiology  will  lead  straight  to 
hygiene — not  merely  to  personal  hygiene,  but  to  the  larger 
questions  of  public  sanitation. 

LIBRARIES. 

A notable  feature  of  our  educational  progress  is  the 
growth  of  libraries.  In  twenty-five  years  the  number  of 
volumes  in  school  libraries  has  increast  from  66,851  to  1,158,- 
233.  In  addition  to  these  all  of  our  larger  towns  support 
libraries  organized  to  cooperate  with  the  schools. 

The  recent  growth  of  libraries  has  profoundly  modified 
the  modes  of  instruction  in  vogue  a generation  ago.  At 
that  date  the  text- book  method  prevaild  in  the  elementary 
and  secondary  schools.  The  pupil  was  assignd  a set  portion 
of  the  text  to  be  masterd.  In  some  schools  the  practis  of 
rote  learning  existed,  and  the  pupil  was  expected  to  repro 
duce  the  exact  words  of  the  text  with  the  same  fidelity  as  if 
he  were  reciting  a chapter  of  the  Bible.  The  teacher  was 
little  more  than  a drill  master.  In  better  schools  the  in- 
structor would  question  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  paragrafs 
studied,  so  as  to  relate  them  to  the  child’s  previous  know- 
ledge, and  would  frequently  supplement  the  text  with  per- 
tinent illustrations  or  additional  facts  drawn  from  his  own 
store  of  knowledge.  In  the  colleges  the  instruction  was 
chiefly  by  lectures,  a method  that  originated  before  the  art 
of  printing,  and  was  indeed  a proper  and  necessary  method 
when  books  were  scarce  and  the  teacher  encompast  within 
himself  all  the  lerning  of  the  world  relating  to  his  subject. 
With  industrious  and  faithful  professors  the  lectures  were 
supplemented  by  oral  quizzes  and  explanations,  and  an 
occasional  formal  written  examination. 

The  text-book  method  still  prevails  in  the  elementary 
school,  but  the  library  has  come  to  supplement  and  enlarge. 
With  older  pupils  in  the  high  school  and  college  the  lecture 
or  text-book  now  serves  chiefly  to  open  up  the  subject,  to 
show  its  organization,  to  disclose  its  vistas.  Library  read- 
ings more  and  more  are  expected  to  furnish  the  bulk  of  the 
detail  that  gives  significance,  reach,  and  application  to  the 
facts  or  principles  of  the  text-book  or  introductory  lecture. 
A teacher  to-day  cannot  properly  organize  his  courses  of  in- 
struction unless  he  knows  the  resources  of  the  library  and 
the  mode  of  using  these  as  an  auxiliary  in  his  work.  Hence 
the  study  of  method  must  include  the  use  of  the  library 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


11 


as  an  educational  instrument.  No  teacher  is  qualified  for 
the  modern  school  unless  he  knows  where  to  look,  for  what 
to  look,  and  how  to  look  in  getting  information. 

Too  many  of  us  date  from  a period  when  libraries  were 
few,  scant,  unorganized,  and  little  used.  The  traind  librar- 
ian bad  not  appeard.  Library  science  was  unherd  of. 
Furthermore,  the  education  we  receivd  was  largely  formal. 
Our  language  teachers  cared  more  for  our  knowledge  of  in- 
flection and  syntax  than  for  our  appreciation  of  Greek  and 
Roman  literature  and  life.  To  a student  of  mathematics  in 
those  days  the  library  could  contribute  little.  Hence  the 
methods  by  which  we  were  taught  in  the  older  college  and 
our  own  erly  practis  did  not  reckon  with  the  library  as  a 
large  factor  in  instruction.  The  growth  of  the  library  has 
been  parallel  to  a change  in  the  aim  and  method  of  our 
schools.  The  emphasis  has  gradually  shifted  from  form  to 
content.  The  change  of  emphasis  required  a change  in  the 
mode  of  instruction,  a change  that  from  the  mere  inertia  of 
habit  we  are  slow  to  make  even  when  we  recognize  the  in- 
adequacy of  our  old  ideals.  The  day  has  come  when  in 
selecting  a teacher  we  must  ask  these  questions:  Is  the 
candidate  a library  student?  Has  he  receivd  his  own  train- 
ing under  teachers  who  had  made  the  systematic  use  of  the 
library  a feature  of  their  instruction?  We  must  ask  this 
question  because  we  know  that  the  example  and  practis  of 
our  teachers  is  a larger  factor  in  developing  the  library 
habit  than  the  most  lerned,  skilful,  and  patient  of  librar- 
ians. 


RURAL  SCHOOLS. 

The  Rural  schools  have  not  moved  forward  at  the  same 
pace  as  the  graded  schools  in  spite  of  certain  notable  im- 
provements. The  three  strongest  forces  in  the  recent  up- 
bilding  of  the  country- schools,  all  appeard  about  twenty -five 
years  ago. 

1.  The  provision  for  annual  institutes. 

2.  The  provision  that  the  county  superintendent  should 
devote  at  least  half  his  time  to  visiting  country  schools,  and 
that  county  boards  should  allow  him  ample  time  and  pay  for 
this  and  other  duties. 

3.  The  classification  and  gradation  of  country  schools 
with  a uniform  course  of  study,  central  and  final  examina- 
tions, and  graduation  exercises  at  the  county  seat. 


12 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


Teachers’  institutes  in  Illinois  have  been  held  since  1850, 
but  prior  to  1883  they  were  supported  wholly  by  voluntary 
contributions  of  the  teachers.  Where  the  county  superin- 
tendent or  leading  teachers  were  devoted,  zelous  men,  county 
associatious  existed  with  frequent  meetings.  In  some  coun- 
ties no  meetings  were  held.  The  law  of  1883  created  a fund, 
and  demanded  qualifications  of  the  instructor.  In  1884  and 
again  in  1889  an  institute  manual  was  prepared.  The  first 
institutes  held  under  this  law  were  attended  with  great  en- 
thusiasm. The  teachers  were  not  merely  enrold;  they  at- 
tended, and  attended  all  day.  Many  of  the  counties  year 
after  year  continued  the  institute  for  two  weeks. 

At  present  it  seems  to  me  there  is  not  the  old  time  inter- 
est. Attendance  at  summer  schools  calls  many  teachers  away. 
Yet  the  county  institute  is  vital  to  the  efficient  organization 
of  rural  schools  and  the  general  attendance  of  the  teachers 
must  be  had.  In  several  counties  the  date  has  been  changed 
from  midsummer  until  March.  Many  propose  changing  the 
date  to  the  corn  husking  season,  when  the  wether  is  fine, 
the  school  year  young,  and  a vacation  not  unwelcome  to  the 
parents. 

Before  1885  the  chief  duties  of  the  county  superintendent 
were  to  examin  teachers  and  examin  the  books  of  township 
tresurers.  The  County  board  could  limit  his  time  and  pay 
at  plesure.  In  one  of  the  largest  counties  in  the  state,  one 
hundred  sixty  dollars  was  the  salary.  He  was  furnisht  no 
offis.  The  county  superintendent  was  generally  an  activ 
teacher  devoting  Saturdays  and  vacations  to  the  work  of  the 
offis;  some  times  a young  lawyer,  a surveyor,  a real-estate  or 
insurance  agent,  or  a minister.  Since  1885  the  personnel, 
the  character,  qualifications,  and  importance  of  the  county 
superintendency  have  stedily  improved  until  the  offis  has  be- 
come in  fact  the  most  influential  in  our  public  school  system. 
The  emoluments  of  the  offis  as  well  as  its  legal  power  in  de- 
termining text-books,  teachers,  course  of  study,  and  methods 
of  instruction  are  likely  to  see  a substantial  advance  in  the 
near  future.  Since  the  county  superintendent  of  the  elder 
day  had  little  to  do  but  examin  teachers,  he  usually  did 
so  with  great  thoroness.  Renewals  in  1883  equald  only  twen- 
ty-three per  cent  of  the  new  certificates.  In  1908  they 
equald  eighty-eight  per  cent  of  the  new  certificates.  Today 
more  than  half  our  teachers  are  high  school  graduates,  more 
than  one-fourth  have  attended  normal  schools,  one-twentieth 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


13 


are  college  graduates.  The  county  superintendent  sees  their 
work  on  his  round  of  visitations.  Fewer  examinations  are 
needed  to  protect  the  schools  from  the  incompetent. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  John  Trainer  in  Macon  County 
had  got  well  under  way  his  system  of  county  organization. 
It  had  alredy  spred  to  Piatt,  Champaign,  and  others.  Simi- 
larly a group  of  northern  counties  had  adopted  a course  and 
begun  the  grading  of  their  schools.  Such  success  attended 
the  movement  that  in  1889  the  State  Department  of  Education 
issued  the  first  edition  of  thq  State  Course  of  Study. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years  under  the  able  man- 
agement of  Mr.  C.  M.  Parker  and  the  county  superintendents 
who  have  assisted  him,  the  thin  pamflet  of  1889  has  grown 
into  a thick  book.  It  is  used  in  other  states  even  more  wide- 
ly than  in  Illinois.  While  possibly  not  in  all  respects  the 
best  course  of  its  kind,  it  is  carefully  prepared,  full  of  sug- 
gestion, and  up-to-date.  The  grading  of  country  schools 
has  increast  the  average  number  of  days  attendance  per 
pupil  from  seventy-five  to  ninety- seven. 

Yet  in  spite  of  these  manifest  improvements  there  are 
many  careful  observers  who  declare  that  all  things  considerd, 
our  country  schools  are  little  better  than  twenty- five  years 
ago.  The  average  enrollment  has  shrunk  from  thirty  eight 
to  twenty- eight.  In  half  the  state  the  rural  schools  in  actual 
attendance  do  not  average  twenty  pupils.  In  hundreds  of 
schools  the  daily  attendance  is  less  than  twelve.  The  depopu- 
lation of  the  country  districts, t he  small  families,  the  removal 
of  the  land  owners  to  town,  leaving  the  schools  largely  to 
transient  tenants,  has  broken  the  spirit  of  many  a country 
school.  It  is  often  too  small  to  look  respectable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  children.  The  length  end  term  graduates  the  boys 
and  girls  at  fifteen. 

In  former  days  the  teacher  was  often  himself  a farmer, 
a man  of  mature  years.  The  older  boys  and  girls  were  still 
in  school.  Now  the  teacher  is  a young  girl  from  the  neigh- 
boring high  school.  The  school  has  long  sufferd  from  fre- 
quent changes  of  teachers.  So  long  as  school  work  was  the 
mere  reciting  of  the  words  of  a book,  the  spelling  of  a 
colum  of  words,  the  cifering  thru  the  arithmetic,  frequent 
changes  in  the  master  wrought  relativly  little  harm,  but 
when  real  teaching  begins,  it  is  vital  that  the  teacher  know 
the  children,  know  their  apperceiving  masses,  their  individ- 
ual peculiarities. 


14 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


When  a farmer- teacher  was  employed  in  winter,  to  teach 
the  big  boys,  a young  girl  in  spring  to  teach  the  little  ones, 
the  arrangement  had  some  relation  to  the  industrial  life. 
We  think  we  have  made  some  gain  because  the  same  teacher 
is  kept  for  the  whole  year,  but  it  is  the  girl  that  is  kept.  The 
older  pupils  are  lost  to  the  school.  There  can  be  little  im- 
provement in  the  country  school  with  their  present  organiza- 
tion, unless  school  boards  plan  to  keep  the  same  teacher  year 
after  year.  Do  we  want  lessons  in  gardening  and  agriculture 
that  will  set  the  children  to  work?  Do  we  want  corn  contests, 
aster  shows,  a harvest  home  celebration  in  the  fall  to  exhibit 
the  products  of  the  children’s  industry?  The  teacher  does 
not  plan  in  the  spring  unless  she  expects  to  be  on  hand  in 
the  fall.  The  accumulation  of  a school  library,  the  adorn- 
ing of  the  school  room,  substantial  pride  in  the  school  itself, 
largely  wait  upon  the  teacher.  They  will  come  abundantly 
when  she  acquires  a permanent  interest  in  the  district. 

Faith  in  scientific  agriculture  is  growing.  Its  growth 
makes  new  demands  upon  the  rural  school.  Soil,  plant,  and 
animal  are  to  have  a large  place  in  the  curriculum.  These 
new  studies  require  qualified  teachers,  apparatus  and  modes 
of  instruction  out  of  the  question  in  the  twenty  by  thirty 
school  house  with  its  fifteen  pupils.  The  movement  for  con- 
solidated schools  is  inevitable  among  progressiv  farmers.  At 
the  John  F.  Swaney  school  in  Putnam  county  $4000  per  year 
are  spent  upon  fewer  than  100  pupils.  Here  in  a most  beau- 
tiful grass-carpeted  grove  near  a clear  stream  is  a $13000 
school  house  with  laboratories  for  physical,  biological,  and 
domestic  science,  all  the  conveniences  of  the  city  school,  an 
athletic  field,  several  acres  for  experimental  plots,  sheds 
for  horses  and  vehicles,  a home  for  the  janitor;  another  for 
the  four  teachers — all  this  in  a district  of  thirteen  sections 
because  the  people  believe  that  such  education  pays.  In  the 
top  floor  of  this  bilding  is  a hall  that  will  accommodate  400 
people.  This  means  that  the  school  is  to  become  once  more 
the  social  center  of  the  rural  community.  The  old  fashiond 
lyceum  will  return.  Its  disappearance  is  one  of  the  lament- 
able features  of  rural  decay  that  has  come  with  landlordism 
and  an  unambitious  tenantry. 

TEACHERS. 

The  strength  of  a school  system  lies  in  its  teachers; 
everything  else  is  secondary  and  tributary  to  their  work. 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


15 


The  teachers  of  our  state  are  undoutedly  better  prepared 
than  twenty-five  years  ago,  so  far  as  schooling  prepares 
people.  Men’s  wages  have  advanced  from  $53  to  $82  per 
month.  Women’s  wages  from  $33  to  $61.  The  average  in- 
crease has  been  twice  as  great  as  the  increase  in  the  mere 
cost  of  living.  Teachers  buy  more  books,  read  more  maga- 
zines, travel  more.  At  least  one-sixbh  of  them  last  year  at- 
tended a summer  school  at  normal  school  or  university.  The 
quality  of  instruction  in  our  graded  schools  is  generally  of 
high  quality.  Foren  visitors  uniformly  testify  that  our  best 
primary  schools  are  better  than  any  in  Europe. 

Another  element  of  educational  progress  is  the  on-com- 
ing of  the  school  mistress.  Fifty  years  ago  women  were  one- 
third  of  the  teaching  force.  Twenty -five  years  ago  sixty -five 
per  cent,  now  eighty-one  per  cent.  At  the  present  rate  of 
extinction,  before  the  end  of  the  century  it  will  be  with  the 
school  master  as  with  the  dodo  and  great  auk,  the  American 
buffalo  and  Siberian  mammoth  and  other  big  game  that  once 
roamd  the  earth;  only  a few  stuft  specimens  in  the  museums 
of  our  great  cities  and  institutions  of  higher  learning  will  re- 
main to  tell  the  story  of  a oncq  mighty  race.  He  may  live 
in  the  pages  of  Goldsmith  and  Irving,  of  Dickens,  Holmes, 
and  Eggleston,  but  nowhere  else. 

HIGH  SCHOOLS. 

The  most  notable  educational  advance  judged  by  statis- 
tics and  expenditures  has  been  in  the  growth  of  high  schools. 
Their  number  is  three  times  as  great  as  in  1883,  their  pupils 
five  times  as  many,  their  cost  eight  times  as  great.  But 
these  figures  do  no  mean  that  the  number  of  advanced  pupils 
in  our  schools  has  increast  in  any  such  ratio  or  that  this 
marks  the  real  growth  in  effectiv  secondary  education. 

From  colonial  days  we  inherited  two  educational  insti- 
tutions. The  common  school  intended  to  instruct  the  chil- 
dren of  all  the  people  in  subjects  of  practical  utility,  read- 
ing, writing,  and  arithmetic,  and  later  in  geography,  Eng- 
lish grammar,  and  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The 
other,  the  college,  intended  originally  to  rear  up  godly  min- 
isters for  the  church,  and  later  discreet  men  for  the  servis 
of  the  State.  The  chief  branches  taught  were  the  Greek, 
Latin,  and  French  languages,  the  higher  mathematics,  rhet- 
oric, logic,  and  moral  philosophy.  Tributary  to  the  college 
was  the  academy,  teaching  the  elements  of  these  branches. 


16 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


Both  were  attended  by  young  men  destind  for  the  profes- 
sions, and  to  a small  extent  by  other  sons  of  the  well-to-do. 

With  the  increase  in  population  and  welth,  additional 
branches  were  taught  in  the  common  school.  Algebra  and 
geometry;  physics,  astronomy,  and  chemistry;  physiology, 
botany  and  zoology;  rhetoric  and  the  history  of  English  lit- 
erature, ancient  and  medieval  history,  civil  goverment  and 
political  economy;  Latin,  Greek,  French,  and  German  were 
gradually  introduced  into  the  schools  of  our  cities;  some  of 
them  in  our  villages  and  smaller  towns.  Classes  in  these 
higher  branches  would  be  organized  with  little  regard  to 
sequence.  The  preference  of  the  principal  and  the  wishes 
of  the  students  would  be  the  determining  factors  in  making 
up  the  program  of  the  high  room.  Then  came  the  move- 
ment towards  the  systematic  grading  of  schools,  the  adop- 
tion of  detaild  courses  of  study  with  regular  examinations 
and  promotions.  With  this  came  the  setting  off  of  the  upper 
grades  under  the  name  of  the  high  school  with  its  three- year 
(later  a four-year)  course  and  its  graduation  ceremonials. 
Twenty- five  years  ago  we  had  in  Illinois  151  such  schools; 
I suspect  that  in  most  of  the  328  other  communities  where 
high  schools  exist  today  many  of  the  so-called  high-school 
branches  were  taught,  many  of  the  young  people  continued 
in  school  till  they  were  eighteen,  and  probably  came  thru 
with  nearly  as  good  preparation  for  the  duties  and  enjoy- 
ments of  life  as  their  daughters  are  receivinjg  in  the  same 
communities  today. 

With  the  growth  of  the  high  school  has  come  the  decline 
of  the  private  academy.  The  college  has  turnd  to  the  high 
school  for  its  recruits.  The  plan  of  accrediting  high  schools, 
begun  by  the  University  of  Michigan  has  now  become  uni* 
versal.  About  twenty  years  ago  the  University  of  Illinois 
began  this  work.  University  supervision  has  been  in  most 
respects  very  helpful;  ambitious  school  boards  have  length- 
end  their  courses,  instald  laboratories,  and  employd  more 
teachers  in  order  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  University. 
On  the  other  hand  the  high  school  has  been  warpt  from  its 
real  democratic  function,  the  people’s  college,  the  finishing 
school  of  most  of  its  pupils,  to  become  a preparatory  school 
for  the  few  who  go  to  college.  In  homely  terms,  it  has  been 
separated  from  its  own  mother  and  given  the  college  as  a 
sort  of  wet  nurse.  The  consequence  has  been  the  undue 
prominence  of  foren  languages,  the  general  disappearance 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century 


17 


of  chemistry,  astronomy,  and  political  economy  from  the  high 
school,  the  restriction  of  high  school  mathematics  and  phys- 
ics to  the  topics  demanded  by  the  colleges,  and  the  limita- 
tion of  high  school  English  to  the  particular  classics  dictat- 
ed by  the  Board  of  Uniform  College  Entrance  Requirements. 
Boys  have  been  forced  out  of  many  a high  school  by  the 
insistence  upon  Latin,  and  the  presence  of  that  language 
today  is  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  proper  recognition  of 
Manual  Training,  Domestic  Economy,  and  other  branches 
of  high  practical  value. 

The  relation  between  the  high  school  and  college  is 
largely  reciprocal,  it  being  in  many  cases  a condition  of  the 
accredited  relation  that  the  high  school  teachers  shall 
have  degrees.  It  is  doutful  whether  the  quality  of  high 
school  teaching  has  been  altogether  improved  by  this  require- 
ment. Twenty-five  years  ago  high  schools  were  taught  by 
the  most  scholarly  and  successful  teachers  of  the  common 
schools  who  by  dint  of  experience,  ability,  and  character 
rose  to  the  best  positions  in  the  schools.  They  understood 
the  problems  of  the  elementary  school,  were  interested  in  all 
educational  questions,  and  knew  how  to  teach  children  in 
their  teens.  Now  the  high  schools  are  chiefly  taught  by  col- 
lege fledglings,  inexperienced,  untraind,  with  scant  resource 
in  the  way  of  method  except  to  imitate  their  own  college 
teachers.  For  this  reason  has  come  into  the  high  school 
the  source  method  in  history,  botany  that  is  mainly  histol- 
ogy, and  formal  lecturing  to  the  boys  in  knickerbockers  and 
girls  in  braids.  Along  with  this  has  come  into  the  high 
school  fraternities  and  inter-school  athletics;  the  college  pipe 
and  club  smokers;  freshmen,  sophomore,  junior,  and  senior 
classes  with  class  pins,  class  stationery,  class  flowers  and 
class  yells,  class  colors  and  class  rushes;  baccalaureate  ser- 
mons and  cap  and- gown  commencements.  It  is  written  in 
the  epistle  of  James  that  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh 
from  above,  but  it  is  from  the  Father  of  lights  in  whom 
there  is  no  variation  or  shadow  cast  by  his  turning.  It  is 
not  yet  proved  that  this  stalactite  system  of  nutrition  is 
altogether  best  for  our  high  schools.  The  universities  them- 
selves are  aware  of  the  deterioration  of  high  school  teaching 
because  of  the  immaturity  and  inexperience  of  so  many 
teachers.  They  are  establishing  schools  of  education,  and 
even  training  departments  to  develop  professional  interest 
and  skill  along  with  scholarship. 


18 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


ATHLETICS. 

One  of  the  most  perplexing  problems  in  school  manage- 
ment  today  is  how  to  control  athletic  sports.  In  1884  inter- 
collegiate games  had  scarcely  begun.  Rugby  football  intro- 
duced at  Harvard  five  years  before  had  hardly  crost  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  Its  spred  has  been  of  great  value  in  developing 
popular  interest  in  athletic  contests  and  has  made  the  col- 
lege a topic  of  conversation  in  new  strata  of  our  population ; 
but  there  has  been  an  undouted  change  in  college  ideals,  in 
college  spirit,  and  in  the  influence  of  the  college  as  a moral 
force.  The  evolutionists  tell  us  that  while  the  outflow  of 
energy  in  any  form  of  activity  is  more  or  less  plesurable  the 
keenest  plesure  is  experienced  when  the  outflow  is  thru  those 
nervous  and  muscular  mechanisms  that  are  oldest  in  our  ra- 
cial history.  Furthermore,  the  emotional  elements,  the 
loyes  and  hates  that  thru  the  long  centuries  have  accom- 
panied these  activities  are  sure  to  be  stimulated  by  their 
revival.  Our  athletic  sports  are  largely  modeled  after  an- 
cient modes  of  warfare.  Their  activities  are  running,  throw- 
ing, or  striking  with  a club.  The  clash  of  contest  stirs  the 
barbaric  passions  and  brings  to  the  surface  the  most  ancient 
dregs  in  human  nature.  Men  marvel  at  the  outcropping  of 
the  trickery,  the  cunning,  the  meanness,  of  savage  warfare 
among  manly  and  honorable  boys.  The  matured  athlete 
whether  a Sullivan  or  a Jeffries,  finds  in  his  riper  years  a 
congenial  field  in  the  saloon  business. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  the  dangers  that  attend  excessiv  devo- 
tion to  athletics,  we  must  have  it.  The  instincts  that  are 
gratified  in  these  sports  are  fundamental  and  wholesome. 
Aside  from  their  physical  value  they  develop  loyalty,  endur- 
ance, pluck,  promptness  in  action,  self-control,  self-sacrifice- 
a willingness  (as  the  boys  phrase  it)  to  take  punishment  in  a 
good  cause.  In  all  ages  these  have  been  basal  qualities  of 
manhood.  If  athletics  were  not  so  hopelessly  entangled  with 
the  advertizing  interests  of  our  great  institutions  it  would 
not  be  so  difficult  to  keep  this  important  element  of  school  life 
in  proper  subordination  to  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  pur- 
poses of  our  higher  institutions.  In  its  present  abnormal 
form,  practically  all  the  athletic  resources  of  the  institution 
are  devoted  to  the  excessiv  training  of  a small  “bunch”  of 
husky  fellows  who  need  it  least,  while  the  great  mass  of  stu- 


The  Educational  Progress  of  a Quarter  Century  19 

dents  “take  their  exercise”  on  the  bleachers  with  pipes  and 
cigarets. 

The  wisdom  of  college  and  high  school  administration 
has  not  yet  proved  equal  to  the  task  of  so  controlling  ath- 
letics as  to  make  them  clean,  wholly  generous  and  manly, 
temperate  in  amount,  universal  in  the  activ  participation  of 
the  students. 


HIGHER  EDUCATION 

The  growth  of  higher  education  in  America  is  one  of  the 
most  significant  phenomena  of  the  day.  The  two  greatest 
fortunes  of  modern  times  are  in  the  lifetime  of  their  owners 
being  chiefly  spent  in  university  and  college  endowments. 
State  legislatures  vie  with  each  other  in  their  lavish  gifts  to 
their  state  universities.  The  scope  of  investigation  and  in- 
struction has  broadend  so  that  the  old  time  college  course 
is  almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  rich  array  of  technical  courses. 
Yet  most  of  this  imposing  progress  has  beeu  in  the  last 
quarter  century.  In  this  period,  in  our  own  state  university 
attendance  has  increast  ten- fold,  in  our  other  colleges  and 
universities  more  than  four- fold. 

The  University  of  Chicago,  Millikin,  St.  Vincent  de  Paul, 
William  & Vashti,  Armour,  Lewis,  and  Bradley,  with  rich 
endowments  have  been  added  to  our  list  of  private  institutions 
doing  work  of  the  highest  excellence.  This  growth  has  been 
possible  not  merely  because  with  the  increase  of  welth  more 
students  can  afford  to  spend  their  leisure  in  the  still  air  of 
delightful  studies.  The  old  college  of  liberal  arts  is  making 
little  hedway.  The  study  of  Greek  has  almost  disappeared 
in  Illinois.  It  is  because  the  higher  institutions  are  freely 
responding  to  the  demand  of  modern  life — the  demand  for 
increast  social  efficiency. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  events  of  the  last 
quarter- century  reveal  in  unmistakable  terms  the  faith  of 
the  people  in  the  schools  and  their  work.  Germany  and 
Japan  in  a single  generation  have  demonstrated  what  a nation 
may  accomplish  that  deliberately  and  intelligently  puts  into 
its  schools  the  elements  that  it  would  have  pervade  the  na- 
tional life.  If  we  have  fallen  short  it  is  not  because  the 
American  people  have  not  believd  in  the  school;  it  is  because 
we  have  been  so  busy  with  the  material  development  of  a 
new  continent,  that  our  best  talent  has  been  drawn  into  this 


20 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly 


field,  leaving  education  without  the  intelligent  attention  that 
it  needed. 

A better  day  is  dawning!  The  American  people  will 
soon  see  that  the  strength  of  a nation  is  not  in  railroads,  or 
battle-ships;  not  even  in  well-tilld  fields  or  thriving  cities; 
but  in  the  intelligence  and  character  of  its  men  and  women, 
in  the  wisdom,  efficiency  and  spirit  of  its  education. 


Illinois 

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